Mexican cartel announces 1-month truce

[Guest guest]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/lt_drug_war_mexico

Mexican cartel announces 1-month truce

By GUSTAVO RUIZ, Associated Press Gustavo Ruiz, Associated Press – 2 hrs 19 mins

ago

MORELIA, Mexico – A letter purportedly signed by La Familia drug cartel

announcing a one-month truce circulated Sunday in the western state of

Michoacan.

In the one-page message, distributed by e-mail and in some cities door by door,

the gang claims it will halt all crime activity during January to demonstrate

that the cartel " is not responsible for the criminal acts federal authorities

are reporting to the media. "

Prosecutors have not verified the letter's authenticity, according to an

employee of the Michoacan bureau of the federal Attorney General's Office who

spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the

matter publicly.

The government says La Familia has been weakened by a recent string of arrests

and deaths of top leaders.

In another letter that circulated in November, La Familia purportedly offered to

disband.

Last month, gunmen torched vehicles across Michoacan and used them as barricades

to block all entrances into the state capital of Morelia after federal police

killed alleged La Familia leader Nazario Moreno .

La Familia has occasionally made public pronouncements seeking to convince the

public that it is defending Michoacan against other drug gangs.

Federal officials, however, say the cartel has terrorized the state with

kidnappings, extortion, hundreds of murders, decapitations and drug trafficking.

More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence nationwide since

President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels after taking office in

December 2006, first deploying hundreds of soldiers and federal police to his

home state of Michoacan.

On Sunday, Calderon said in a New Year's broadcast that his administration will

continue to fight organized crime.

" We all know it is necessary to rid Mexico of crime, impunity and corruption,

which had been rooted in our society and our institutions, " he said. " I can

assure you we are on the right path and we will defeat the criminals, to

ultimately build a Mexico of peace. "

Earlier Sunday, military and federal agencies responsible for fighting the drug

war released a joint statement highlighting what they called " historic

achievements. "

In Calderon's first four years in government, more methamphetamine, automatic

rifles and grenades were seized than in the previous eight years, the statement

said.

It did not say how seizures for cocaine and marijuana, the main sources of

income for Mexican drug cartels, compare to previous administrations.

___

Associated Press writer Olga R. contributed to this story from Mexico

City.